Stopping climate change, one media outlet at a time

Damian Carrington offered some very helpful insights as to why it has been so difficult to stop climate change. However, I feel that he missed a few very important points.

I think it is incredibly important to note the role of both the media and the people. The media plays a huge role in disseminating information, and often climate change is overlooked, or the information is skewed. It appears to me that most media sources in general are afraid to take a definitive stance on climate change- they often discuss it but as a concept, rather than a fact.

Contributing to the lack of media attention (or the lack of media attention on fact, rather than simply the politics of the matter) is that the science does not appear to be concise, or truthful. Much of the general population is unaware that most studies on climate change do show, to the very best of their ability, that it is happening. As we discussed in class, it is impossible to say, and be 100% sure of, what will happen in the future. Based on this, many people are able to spin the science in their favor. A few important individuals in the media world help to further discount this- it only takes a few important people to start the ball rolling and, eventually, it will catch on and reach the population.

I would also note that the people, the general population, has a lot to do with the lack of action against climate change. On one hand, they are heavily influenced by the media. If the media is ignoring it, or discounting it, you can bet the same trend will prevail among the population.

However, beyond the media, it is important to note culture. Eric Assadourian's article about "consumer cultures" is a great explanation for this. Our culture has shaped us into individuals who want to buy, use, dispose, and begin the cycle again. And we want it all to be easy. Our culture is heavily pitted against the environment. If we will ever see a positive change in the environment, it will almost certainly have to come along with a cultural paradigm shift, as Assadourian noted. When we each calculated our carbon footprint, I think it was made pretty clear that we can not continue at our current rate (not even close!). Each of us are using so many resources that it would take multiple earths to sustain human life if everyone on the planet lived like us.

For these reasons, among others, I think both the media and the individual are two important factors standing in the way of effective action.